A computer program listing is included herewith as a microfiche appendix with a total of 58 fiche sheets and 3,411 frames.
The present invention relates to the computerized management of client data, and more particularly, but not exclusively relates to the management of personal injury claims.
Every year vast numbers of personal injuries occur. The law encourages injured parties to seek compensation from those at fault. Typically, the injured party, the plaintiff, is able to obtain compensation from the party at fault, the defendant (or the defendant""s insurer), by threatening a lawsuit. In the vast majority of cases, the claim of the injured party is settled before a trail on the merits resultsxe2x80x94even before a lawsuit is filed in many cases. By settling legitimate claims quickly, a more cost-effective conclusion is reached for all parties involved. Moreover, early settlements conserve judicial resources to the benefit of the public at large.
Unfortunately, efficiently settling these claims ordinarily requires the coordination and scheduling of doctors, lawyers, insurance representatives, and many others. Generally, the pursuit of a personal injury claim also requires the injured client""s legal representative to gather and assimilate large quantities of documents and other information from a variety of sources. Once gathered, this information is used to negotiate a settlement of a claim or litigate the claim as the situation warrants. Frequently, poor coordination, scheduling, and information management leads to claims that are not settled promptly, properly, or fairly. Sometimes, a poorly managed claim becomes the subject of costly litigation which otherwise could have been avoided.
In addition, information collection tasks often limit the quantity of claims that can be handled at the same time by a given number of legal support personnel. The management of information collection required for some claims often distracts legal representatives from focusing on negotiation and litigation tasks for other claims. This distraction significantly adds to cost and hampers efficiency of the typical personal injury attorney""s practice.
Conventional management schemes are often prone to errors due to the imposition of a manual entry in a client""s file every time a document is sent or other noteworthy event takes place. Moreover, these schemes do not prompt the legal representative or support staff to assure the prompt advancement of the claim from one stage to the next. The untimely advancement of a claim through various information gathering and evaluation stages often results in a more expensive and protracted resolution of the claim compared to claims which are investigated, evaluated, and asserted more promptly. Also, conventional schemes often make it difficult to quickly access the status of a given client""s case in response to a phone call or other request requiring a quick turn around.
Consequently, there remains a need for a personal injury management technique to automatically gather, track, schedule, and organize various aspects of personal injury claims. Preferably, such a system facilitates a rapid assessment of the status of each claim, and frees legal representatives from tedious and burdensome information management tasks. Instead, legal representatives may focus on negotiation and litigation of meritorious claimsxe2x80x94increasing the number of claims which may be handled simultaneously and improving quality of the representation. As compared to conventional schemes, it is preferred that this management technique facilitate the handling of a larger number of claims by the same legal support staff with fewer errors. Moreover, the system promotes movement of a number of personal injury claims towards settlement in a timely manner. The present invention meets these needs and provides other significant advantages.
The present invention relates to legal claim management. Various aspects of the invention are novel, non-obvious, and provide various advantages. While the actual nature of the invention covered herein can only be determined with reference to the claims appended hereto, certain features which are characteristic of the preferred embodiment disclosed herein can be described briefly.
In one feature of the present invention, a computerized management technique for a plaintiff""s personal injury case includes executing a program loaded on a computer to establish a client data record. This record has data relative to a personal injury claim including status of the claim. Status of the record is established in a first management phase which corresponds to pre-negotiation of the claim. The program characterizes the first phase with at least a first subordinate pre-negotiation stage and a second subordinate pre-negotiation stage. The program generates a first number of pre-negotiation prompts in response to initiation of the first stage. These first prompts are directed to obtaining information about the claim. The second stage of the first phase is activated after completion of medical treatment of an injury corresponding to the claim. The program generates a second number of pre-negotiation prompts in response, which are directed to the determination of a proposed settlement amount for the claim. The status of the record is set to a second management phase corresponding to negotiation of the claim, and a third management phase representing settlement of the claim. This computerized management system provides a unique organizational structure that facilitates advancement of a personal injury claim through an optimal sequence of information gathering stages with a minimum of manual intervention.
In another feature, a computerized management system includes establishing a number of data records in a computer by executing a program. Each of the records corresponds to a different personal injury claim which is opened with a first status representing a medical treatment phase for a corresponding injury. The program prompts generation of a first number of documents in accordance with a first schedule timed by the program to span a first number of days for each of the records. The first documents are correspondingly directed to receiving information about the claim for each of the records. The first status of a selected one of the records is changed to a second status in accordance with completion of medical treatment for the corresponding injury. The program prompts generation of a second number of documents different from the first number of documents in accordance with a second schedule initiated by the status change. The program times the second schedule to span a second number of days. The second documents are directed to formulation of a proposed settlement amount for the injury. The selected one of the records is switched to a third status in response to communicating the proposed settlement amount to a corresponding opponent. The selected one of the records is set to a fourth status corresponding to litigation of the corresponding claim. The program prompts generation of a third number of documents in accordance with a third schedule timed by the program during the fourth status. Generation of selected ones of the first, second, and third documents may automatically update the corresponding record and trigger one or more prompts to follow-up on whether a response has been received to the document triggering the update.
In still another feature of the present invention, a computer system for managing a number of personal injury cases includes an input device, a video monitor, and a processor. The processor responds to the input device to generate a number of data records each corresponding to a different respective personal injury claim. The processor generates a number of signals for each of the records, which include a first control signal corresponding to pre-negotiation of the respective claim. The first control signal is characterized by at least two subordinate signals. These subordinate signals include a first subordinate signal corresponding to medical treatment of an injury associated with the respective claim. The processor is responsive to the first subordinate signal to time generation of a first number of prompt signals in accordance with a first schedule spanning several days. These subordinate signals also include a second subordinate signal corresponding to release from medical treatment for the injury. The processor is responsive to the second subordinate signal to time generation of a second number of prompt signals in accordance with a second schedule spanning several days. The second prompt signals differ from the first prompt signals. The number of signals generated by the processor also include a second control signal corresponding to negotiation of the respective claim and a third control signal corresponding to settlement of the respective claim. The monitor responds to the first prompt signal to display a first number of input prompts in accordance with the first schedule and to the second prompt signals to display a second number of input prompts in accordance with the second schedule. The first and second prompts facilitate gathering and entry of data about the respective claim into a corresponding one of the records.
In still another feature of the present invention, a device for a computer system having a processor, video monitor, and printer is provided which includes a computer readable medium storing a software program. The program generates a number of data records each corresponding to a different respective personal injury claim. The program places each of the records in a first management phase corresponding to pre-negotiation of the respective claim. The program characterizes the first phase with at least a first subordinate stage corresponding to medical treatment for an injury associated with the respective claim and a second subordinate stage corresponding to completion of medical treatment for the injury. The program displays a number of prompts on the monitor in accordance with a first schedule spanning a first number of days and generates a second number of corresponding documents with the printer during the first stage. The program times display of a second number of prompts on the monitor in accordance with the second schedule spanning a second number of days and generates a second number of corresponding documents with the printer during the second stage. The program is configured to selectively classify the records in a second management phase corresponding to negotiation of the respective claim and a third management phase corresponding to settlement of the respective claim.
In yet another feature, a computerized management technique includes establishing a number of data records in a computer system for processing by a software program executed by the system. The records each correspond to one of a number of personal injury claims. The claims each correspond to a respective client suffering a respective personal injury. A number of data items are entered into each of the records. The items include a factual description of the respective injury, a number of values corresponding to damages suffered by the respective client, and an address of an opponent to a corresponding claim. One of the records is selected to generate a demand letter with the system. The program automatically assembles the letter from a standard form, the items corresponding to the selected record, and a demand amount calculated by the program from the values corresponding to the selected one of the records.
In a further feature of the present invention, a number of data records are established in a computer by executing a program, which each correspond to a different personal injury claim. Each record is opened with a first management phase representing medical treatment for a corresponding injury. A selected one of the records is changed from the first phase to a second management phase in accordance with completion of medical treatment for the corresponding injury. This record is switched to a third management phase in response to communication of the proposed settlement amount to a corresponding opponent. The status of the selected one of the records is changed to a fourth management phase representing settlement of the corresponding personal injury for a final settlement amount. The program calculates a distribution of the final settlement amount among a number of recipients and prompts generation of a corresponding number of checks with the computer. The selected one of the records includes a number of accounting entries. A first one of the entries corresponds to a medical cost for the corresponding injury, and a second one of the entries corresponds to an expense incurred during the second or third phases to pursue the corresponding claim. The distribution is calculated by the program as a function of the entries.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a technique for computerized management of personal injury claims.
Another object is to provide a computerized multi-phase management system having subordinate stages for at least one of the phases.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique for advancing a personal injury claim through various information gathering and evaluation stages to prompt a timely settlement.
A further object is to provide a computerized personal injury claim management technique which facilitates the prompt assessment of the status of a claim selected from a large number of claims.
Yet another object is to provide a computerized management system which generates a letter by automatically assembling data from a client record and calculating relevant quantities for inclusion in the letter.
Another object is to assist legal support staff in the timely and efficient gathering of information from which to formulate a settlement proposal.
A further object is to reduce errors inherent in conventional systems which require manual entry of the dates documents are sent.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a computerized management technique for generating demand letters and settlement amounts to facilitate efficient personal injury claim management.
Further objects, advantages, benefits, aspects, and features of the present invention will become apparent from the description and drawings contained herein.